Pint-Sized Voters Make Sweet Decision at the Polls

A group of four and five year olds at Highland Preschool in Hampden took a break from playtime on Monday to do something quite grown up. They voted, but not on a favorite candidate. Instead, they voted on a topic they know a little more about. The race was between Chocolately Chip Teddy Grahams and Cinnamon Teddy Grahams. Like in a real election, it was a secret ballot.”We told them to make their own decision, so we actually covered up the other votes so that they couldn’t see how their classmates had voted,” said Kathryn Ravenscraft, a teacher at Highland Preschool.They were also told to taste both choices and think very carefully about their decision before voting.”Because they might taste the same or not the same,” explained 5-year-old Joshua.After all the results were tallied, it was a close race. Chocolately chip beat out cinnamon by a single vote. It was an early lesson about how every vote counts.Ravenscraft said, “This is really about introducing them to the concept of voting. We use some vocabulary words: candidate, majority, election. It’s just about planting the seeds of that mindfulness of their civic duty.”Because someday their votes will affect more than what’s on the menu for snack time.